CORRECTED-AIRSHOW-New Eurofighter chief aims to make jet cheaper

(Corrects that EADS is representative of German and Spanish
interests, not France and Spain in para 6)

PARIS, June 19 (Reuters) - The new chief of the Eurofighter
Typhoon will lay out plans by the end of this year to make the
fighter jet cheaper and decision-making quicker, as the aircraft
gears up to vie for more business in an increasingly crowded and
competitive market.

Alberto Gutierrez, the former head of operations at EADS
unit Airbus Military who became Eurofighter's chief
executive in April, said the goal was to win at least 25 percent
of 1,000 potential aircraft sales in the global market.

"In this market, where we are, there is competition and we
have to keep on going, finding out whatever improvement is
available to catch up, to make the product cheaper and a way of
getting into decisions leaner and faster," he said at the Paris
Airshow on Wednesday.

He said he intended to lay out the plans by the end of the
year but declined to specify figures on how much cheaper the
product could become.

One option to make decision-making leaner could be to
restructure the way Eurofighter export campaigns are waged by
giving them a "single face," he said.

The multi-role Eurofighter combat jet is made by Britain's
BAE Systems and Italian weapons maker Finmeccanica
, and EADS, representative of Germany and Spain, with
each taking responsibility for particular campaigns. EADS's
Cassidian arm, for instance, is leading its proposal in South
Korea.

The consortium is targeting exports as austerity-minded
European governments slash defence budgets and has so far sold
jets to Austria, Saudi Arabia and Oman outside the core four
countries.

It is vying for orders in South Korea, Kuwait, Qatar,
Bulgaria and Denmark, Gutierrez said. The Eurofighter's main
competitors include Lockheed Martin's F-35 jet, Dassualt
Aviation's Rafale fighter and the Gripen by Sweden's
Saab.
(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Mark Potter)